Qiming Chapter 76

Chapter 76

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"Captain Gu, the person has mostly regained consciousness." The door of the hospital room was pushed open, and he quickly got up and went inside. Behind him, Xu Chengyue hesitated for a moment before following him into the room.

Fang Xing's driver, Liu Shifu, was a man in his forties. He hadn't had a drop of water for two days, and when they found him, his face and limbs were swollen. Fortunately, he was someone who regularly went to the gym, and after receiving a nutritional IV, his blood pressure and blood sugar gradually returned to normal. He was now able to communicate normally.

"What, what's the date today?" Liu Shifu tried his best to open his eyes, which were barely slits. His disjointed thoughts hadn't yet fully recovered, and he slowly turned his head, taking in the unfamiliar and unsettling environment around him.

"The twenty-eighth, the long holiday is about to start."

"Yes, it's almost November. I still need to request leave to go back to my hometown early..." He breathed a sigh of relief, but the next second, he sat up alertly. "Is this a hospital? Why am I here? How is it already the twenty-eighth? Did I black out from drinking too much?"

"We were hoping you could tell us." Gu Yunfeng spoke in frustration when he saw Liu Shifu's reaction. "Two days ago, after Mr. Fang's meeting ended, where did you go with him in your car?"

Mentioning this seemed to trigger Liu Shifu's memory. His eyes regained some clarity, and the hand that had an IV needle inserted slapped his thigh in excitement, nearly causing him to jump up.

"Driving my car? No, no, no, I didn't see Mr. Fang after that! Did he blame me for being in the hospital the last few days?" His eyes darted around. "Why the hell am I in a hospital..."

"We found you five kilometres west of the xx section of the ring road." Xu Chengyue, who had been sitting on the sofa next to him, explained. These past few days, Xu Chengyue hadn't slept well and was groggy, but he still rubbed his reddened eyes, trying to stay alert.

"I, I, I remember now." A sudden realisation came over Liu Shifu's face, followed by a flash of terror. His body trembled as he spoke in a panicked tone. "I passed out, didn't I!"

He finally remembered. Gu Yunfeng nodded helplessly, thinking that Liu Shifu might have been too traumatised, which was causing him to act somewhat off.

"That day, Mr. Fang was holding a meeting with the senior executives of the group. As it was nearing the end, I was waiting for him downstairs." Liu Shifu nervously swallowed. "Suddenly, a young man wearing a mask walked up."

"He came over and knocked on the car window. I thought he was asking for directions, so I opened the window." He said with deep regret. "But instead, he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and reached out towards me, and after that, I don't remember anything."

"Did you get a good look at him? Any distinguishing features?" Gu Yunfeng frowned, knowing that the chances of getting a usable description were slim after hearing that the person wore a mask.

As expected, Liu Shifu shook his head, thinking for a long time before saying, "But he had a scar on his forehead."

"Is it obvious?"

"The scar was longer than my finger and quite dark in colour." As he spoke, he held up his short, thick finger for them to see.

"He was also wearing a hat and a black hoodie. Unfortunately, because of the mask, I couldn't see his full face."

"After he knocked you out, this person drove your car, took you thirty kilometres away, and then dumped you and the car in an abandoned car processing plant, far from anyone and any surveillance cameras." Gu Yunfeng, while recording the conversation, asked him, "Did you wake up at any point? Roughly when?"

"I don't know the exact time, Officer. It seemed like... I woke up once during the night, the sky was black. I called out for help, but no one answered, and I was scared out of my wits." Liu Shifu said helplessly. "I have this problem, you see, when I get hungry, I tend to faint. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I was so hungry that I was dizzy and my vision was blurry, it didn't take long for me to pass out again. Luckily, I didn't die and managed to hang on."

Due to the immense mental and physical pressure, Liu Shifu was now overly talkative and sensitive, ready to explode at the slightest wrong word. He shook his head self-deprecatingly, then grabbed Gu Yunfeng's arm, anxiously and fearfully wailing.

"Officer, have you caught the guy with the scar yet? What did I do to deserve this? Why would anyone do this to me?"

"We haven't caught him yet." Gu Yunfeng patted the arm that was clutching his, trying to calm the victim down. "You're the only one who's seen him, if you remember anything else, let us know immediately." He pointed to the service bell beside the hospital bed, speaking in a steady tone, "For now, just rest well."

He glanced down at the time on his phone, the time to release the third scandal was fast approaching.

Gu Yunfeng called in the doctor to check on Liu Shifu, then walked over to where Xu Chengyue had fallen asleep on the sofa. He found a blanket and draped it over him. Despite the fact that they had been talking loudly, Xu Chengyue had fallen soundly asleep, leaning against the armrest. He must have been truly exhausted. He heard that in recent days, he had been suffering from insomnia, feeling anxious and lost. Even in sleep, his brows were furrowed.

Gu Yunfeng bent down and gently brushed his hand across Xu Chengyue's forehead. Perhaps the warmth of his hand was reassuring, as the lines on Xu Chengyue's brow gradually smoothed out under his touch.

—————

He smiled as he looked at Xu Chengyue's now peaceful face, then walked out to the corridor outside the hospital room alone. He was about to ask about the situation with Fang Yuejia when he received a call from Shu Pan.

Looking up at the sky outside the window, he noticed that it was already dark. A streak of vivid red sunlight lingered on the horizon. The night sky was nearly starless, with only the brightest star shining with a light no one could block. He took a deep breath, feeling both apprehensive and tense. Nearly half of the twenty hours that the kidnapper had mentioned had already passed, and they still hadn't found anything.

If all six so-called scandals were released and they still hadn't found Fang Xing, this recently famous executive might indeed be reduced to a pile of bones.

Leaning against the snow-white wall, Gu Yunfeng gazed out at the distant lights, then calmly answered the call, listening to Shu Pan's familiar loud voice on the other end.

"Has the kidnapper released the third scandal?" he asked.

"They... should have," Shu Pan replied hesitantly, his usual assertiveness replaced by a downcast tone.

"What do you mean, 'should'?"

"The kidnapper last posted on a local forum under the alias 'Red Executioner'. But the forum's security was too poor, and within two hours, the account was hacked."

"Hacked?" This was the first time Gu Yunfeng had encountered something like this. Actually, if it was hacked, they could just create another account, right?

"After it was hacked, the name 'Red Executioner' was quickly registered on various forums. And at exactly seven o'clock in the evening, just ten minutes ago, dozens of accounts with similar names on different forums all posted exposés about Zhiyin Biotech."

Gu Yunfeng, who was holding a cup and about to take a drink, nearly choked when he heard this. Rubbing his temples, he asked, "So now it's impossible to tell which post is actually from the real kidnapper?"

"Exactly." Shu Pan replied, shivering. "There are dozens of exposé posts, each more outrageous than the last, we don't know which one to believe."

"Then read them all out."

"You want me to read all the titles?"

"Yes, read out the content too. Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem." Though he was extremely reluctant, Shu Pan agreed, and started pulling up all the relevant exposé posts, reading them out to Gu Yunfeng one by one.

"Zhiyin Biotech CEO Fang Xing has been cheating for years, and his mistress is actually a senior female executive who reports directly to him."

"Keep going," Gu Yunfeng said as he sat on a chair in the corridor, taking out a pen to jot down key points.

"A male senior in college seduces Zhiyin Biotech's CEO Fang Xing in hopes of securing a job."

"......" He internally cursed, wondering what kind of unreliable rumours these were. Was this some sort of competition to see who could come up with the most dog-blood story? Holding back his urge to complain, he kept his tone neutral, urging Shu Pan to continue reading.

Continue, continue.

Continue.

"Zhiyin Biotech recruits surgical volunteers, one volunteer dies unexpectedly during a failed operation, and Zhiyin Biotech refuses to take responsibility, continuing to secretly recruit experimental volunteers even after being penalised."

"Wait." Hearing this, Gu Yunfeng, who was nearly dozing off, suddenly perked up. He interrupted Shu Pan and asked him to go over the details of this particular exposé post.

"The specific content is... let me see, there's quite a bit here. Captain Gu, let me read through it first and summarise it for you."

Gu Yunfeng acknowledged with a hum, then waited nearly ten minutes before Shu Pan spoke again.

"This exposé claims that Zhiyin Biotech and its subsidiary, Ruihe Hospital, collaborated on a surgical clinical trial. Most hospitals conduct drug trials, but surgical trials are relatively rare."

"What type of surgery?"

"Surgeries for patients in vegetative states or those who are brain-dead," Shu Pan replied casually.

Hearing those words, Gu Yunfeng's mind buzzed, and all subsequent words from Shu Pan became a fragmented blur. In that instant, his thoughts were consumed with Xu Chengyue and Jiang Hai's experiences, lives deeply intertwined with this hospital and the biotech company, enmeshed in dark, unseen surging currents.

"This is the one," he said.

He looked up at the sky, where the moon shone cold and solitary, flanked only by the brightest planet, Venus, a presence that no other light could overshadow.

"Are you sure this is the one?"

"It's him. The rest are fake," he replied with absolute certainty.

"Oh... So should I stop reading the others?"

"There's no need to read them," Gu Yunfeng replied.

He stood up, pushed open the door to the hospital room, and walked over to the sofa where Xu Chengyue was lying. Professor Xu was still asleep, his breathing steady. Despite his single eyelids, his long eyelashes gave him a delicate appearance. His pale face had gained a bit more colour since he first arrived, losing the earlier tension and unease, and he was now quietly resting.

Gu Yunfeng squatted down, hesitating over whether to wake Xu Chengyue.

Then, lowering his voice and volume, he spoke to Shu Pan, "By the way, get in touch with the cyber police and check the accounts of those impersonating the kidnapper who have over five hundred shares or replies."

"Are we bringing them in for questioning?"

"Not necessarily, but you never know, maybe one of those ridiculous rumours might actually be true." However, these wild speculations had caused them countless headaches, making it quite an effort to even identify the real exposé post.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: August 29, 2024 by Angel

Edited: November 26, 2024 by Angel